Trump says Jan 6 criminal referrals only make him ‘stronger’ [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• The Jan. 6 panel unanimously voted to make criminal referrals against former President Donald Trump and his associates.
• Trump said that the “fake charges” only make him “stronger.”
• He added that the “highly partisan” investigation was only started to undermine his presidential campaign.

The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 has made criminal referrals to the Justice Department over the involvement of former President Donald Trump and his associates in efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Trump, meanwhile, responded that the move only “strengthens” him.

Trump declared on Truth Social, “These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me. What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”

The House panel held its final public meeting on Monday, during which they unanimously voted to make criminal referrals over charges of conspiracy to make a false statement, conspiracy to defraud the United States, inciting an insurrection, and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Hours later, Trump called the recommendations a “double jeopardy.” He pointed out that he already “won convincingly” when “The Fake charges made by the highly partisan Unselect Committee of January 6th have already been submitted, prosecuted, and tried in the form of Impeachment Hoax # 2.”

Trump condemned the FBI as “the Democratic Bureau of Investigation” and remarked that the investigation was a political effort to undermine his campaign. He said that “the DBI are out to keep me from running for president because they know I’ll win.”

The charges on insurrection could prohibit Trump, who just announced his third presidential campaign last month, from running for elected office.

Trump continued, “This whole business of prosecuting me is just like impeachment was — a partisan attempt to sideline me and the Republican Party.”

The committee called out Trump, saying that it took him 187 minutes of inaction during the riot before he released a video message urging the rioters to “go home.”

Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) called it an “extreme dereliction of duty,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) called Trump “unfit for any office,” and other lawmakers called Trump’s inaction shameful.

The committee, which will be dissolved in the next Congress, will release a final report on its investigation on Wednesday.

Source: The Hill